Steelers Defensive Coordinator Keith Butler on Ryan Shazier: "All I am is hopeful that he gets well. I'm not worried about him playing for us again. I'm more worried about him...The football stuff is secondary. His life is a lot more important to me than football." #Steelers

UPMC neurosurgeons recommend spinal stabilization when the movement of a damaged spinal disc causes pain or if a condition such as spondylolisthesis allows the spine to become unstable, according to their website.

When the spine is unstable, excessive motion can cause the nerves adjacent to the spinal column to be pinched, leading to leg pain, numbness, and weakness.

“You never went to see one of your brothers get hurt, especially seriously. To not be able to move and to have to be carted off,” Le'Veon Bell said.

"It's the sport we play," said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on a weekly radio show Tuesday morning. "People get all over me for saying you have to contemplate every year on if you want to keep going. Plays like this make you really evaluate things. That's why I say it's the smart thing to do."

Roethlisberger also said he hopes his son chooses to play golf, but if he chooses football, that's OK too.